International studio (33.1907/1908(1908))

The Washington Plan


VIEW TOWARD LINCOLN MEMORIAL

PARK COMMISSION PLAN

ordination. Before this station is to be a great open
plaza, beautified by fountains and other works of
art. Here it is proposed to place the Columbus
Memorial, for which Congress has appropriated
$100,000, and, possibly, the statues of John Paul
Jones and Commodore Barry, for which also
provision has been made.
Up to this point it will be seen the plan had much
to do with present needs, but looking to the future
it also made provision for a great park system,
which, while in no wise hampering the city’s
growth, would for all time insure its health and
beauty. The lovely little valley of Rock Creek,
lying between Washington and Georgetown, which,
sadly enough, has been used as a dumping ground
until its pictorial aspect has been almost destroyed,
is, in the scheme of the Park Commission, to be
reclaimed and used as a link in the chain con-
necting Rock Creek and Potomac parks. The
purchase of other land, notably that on the eastern
branch of the Potomac, was recommended and
measures urged for the preservation of the splendid
scenery on the upper stretches of the river.
This is, indeed, but a brief summary, and yet it
will give, I hope, some idea of the magnitude and
merit of the plan, and of its bearing upon city-
building. Since it was drawn up, Cleveland has
set about the organization of a civic center which
is notably well designed, Boston has improved its
Charles River embankment in an exceptionally
clever manner, Chicago has beautified and in-
creased its park system, and New York has made

provision for the erection of imposing railroad
stations which will serve as appropriate gateways.
Buffalo, Detroit, Philadelphia, St. Louis, New
Orleans, Denver, St. Paul, Minneapolis, San
Francisco and Manila are making progress along
the same lines, and even the towns of our East and
Middle West are endeavoring to procure plans
for future development. Art commissions are being
formed and endued with requisite authority; old
errors are being remedied and new ones guarded
against. Not that much does not remain to be
done, or that blunders are not continually being
perpetrated, but there is an evident widening of
knowledge and a deepening of interest in those
things which are artistically worth while. Our city
governments still do not sufficiently restrict ugliness
through building regulations or fully comprehend
the importance of continuity in design; but
things are infinitely better than they were and our
city pictures are much more engaging.
We Americans are sometimes in too much of a
hurry, we make haste too precipitously, we are too-
inclined to build for to-day disregarding to-morrow
and hence defeat our own purpose. It is against
the evil of this tendency that such a plan for the
development of a city as that prepared for Wash-
ington aims. It is a plan not for immediate fulfil-
ment, but for future guidance, which if followed in
the main will insure not only good, but related re-
sults, making the national city through the efforts
of succeeding generations a great national work
of art.

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